I was frustrated with my inability to add to my state revenue collection (I collect all 50 states and DC) and saw a calendar collection of some British Empire stamp. Looked easy enough and so I decided to give it a try.

21 years later I may be deciding it wasn't such an easy idea after all!

While the first 3 years of Battleships are very strong, the other years are not so much. Here is an example of the earlier civil war issues:

The earliest stamps were the 3 cent and 4 cent proprietaries on Oct 4. Good luck with finding any. Or with knowing whether or not they might have been backdated for any date that month. No other stamp was used for more than 2 weeks, and I doubt very many of those are around either. Even with all the stamps you have, do you even have half a dozen October 62 cancels?

Per Mahler, there is only one reported example of an October 1, 1862 cancel on document. More are possible, just not reported to him.

A quick search on my site shows 21 stamps with October 1862 cancels, of which 17 are on document. My earliest are October 2, two examples dated October 4, and an October 6. The penmanship on the October 2 document is a bit indeterminate with respect to the date on the stamp itself, but we can date it via the check number (several years back there was an eBay seller that would regularly sell off checks from T.P. Howell & Co., all from 1862 and early 1863, and once I recognized them, I patiently waited for and purchased every lot that came up, so I have a whole sequence of check numbers and date data from that particular company).

I have an R53b dated October 1, 1862, but that has to be backdated, as according to the Boston Book, the 40-cent Inland Exchange wasn't first delivered until December 4, 1862.

No, an October 1862 calendar (and to a certain extent November as well) present a daunting challenge.

I looked through about 70 battleships last night and couldn't find the dates you need. However, I enjoyed looking as I have a bunch of battleships and other revs with no home. I really enjoyed looking at this collection and admire your creativity in finding a philatelic challenge in a stamp with generally little value. Very cool battleship collection. thanks for sharing.

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